{"id":193052,"date":"2025-09-30T20:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T20:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/193052\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T20:17:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T20:17:08","slug":"ford-ceo-on-his-epiphany-after-talking-to-his-gen-z-factory-workers-they-were-saying-they-had-to-have-three-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/193052\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford CEO on his \u2018epiphany\u2019 after talking to his Gen Z factory workers: They were saying they \u2018had to have three jobs\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ford CEO Jim Farley delivered an urgent message at the company\u2019s Ford Pro Accelerate event on Tuesday, revealing a personal \u201cepiphany\u201d about the crisis facing Gen Z<\/a> and the wider blue-collar workforce that led to his current push to emphasize the problems with what he calls the \u201cessential economy.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking with Bloomberg\u2019s David Westin at Michigan Central Station<\/a>, Farley said he came to this realization during the United Auto Workers strike of 2023, when he was especially struck by stories from young factory employees. Many of them said they could not support themselves by working at Ford alone. \u201cWhen I met with my entry factory workers, they were saying [they] had to have three jobs.\u201d He said they would also work at places like Walmart<\/a> and an Amazon<\/a> fulfillment center: \u201c\u2018You know, I get six hours of sleep, and I got three jobs.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

In the short term, Farley said, Ford\u2019s signature element in its new labor agreement was to get full wages to entry-level workers. But beyond that, he began looking at the labor shortage in trade work, starting with technicians. Farley described a revelation about the erosion of what blue-collar work used to represent\u2014stability, pride, and a single income that could support a family. \u201cOld-timers in our plants were saying, \u2018It\u2019s no longer a career, Mr. Farley. Working at Ford is no longer a career.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Farley\u2019s remarks came during a star-studded event organized by the automaker, including video remarks from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and a sit-down interview with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Dimon called America the \u201cbastion of freedom, arsenal of democracy,\u201d and argued that the country had \u201cgotten bogged down and made a lot of mistakes in how to grow our economy for the benefit of all Americans.\u201d He urged Farley to keep fighting against what he called America becoming a \u201cnation of compliance and box-checking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scope of the blue-collar crisis<\/p>\n

Farley was blunt about the nationwide labor shortage. He estimated the U.S. is short roughly 400,000 technicians and a similar number of factory workers, repeating talking points<\/a> he has been citing in his push on the essential economy. He warned that millions of well-paid jobs are going unfilled because they require specialized skills. Putting the salaries for these jobs at $100,000 and above, Farley argued that they require training. \u201cYou can\u2019t work on a diesel F-150 if you haven\u2019t been trained for five years, at a minimum five years,\u201d Farley noted. It\u2019s not a demand problem\u2014there\u2019s plenty of work\u2014but a dire shortage of young people choosing and staying in the trades.<\/p>\n

Farley pivoted to another theme he\u2019s been raising: artificial intelligence, data centers, and the labor required to build this infrastructure. \u201cWe keep talking about our data centers,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have huge construction companies here today. They will tell you this is a big issue for them.\u201d Farley added that AI is driving huge demand for construction and warned that he doesn\u2019t know where the labor will come from to build this infrastructure.<\/p>\n

How do we fix this?<\/p>\n

Farley called out declining investment in skilled trades, poor productivity, and bureaucratic hurdles as key obstacles facing the essential economy. He challenged large employers and community leaders to act, advocating for more robust apprenticeship and vocational education programs, and lamented the lack of progress at federal levels despite President Trump\u2019s push to de-emphasize four-year degrees in favor of trade schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see a lot of momentum with mayors, county leaders,\u201d Farley said. \u201cThey get it. But they\u2019re in the same boat we are. They don\u2019t have a lot of resources. They\u2019re struggling to get these projects done.\u201d He said there\u2019s a general attitude of frustration, a sense of \u201cHow the hell do we fix this?\u201d<\/p>\n

Farley agreed that trade schools<\/a> and apprentice programs are \u201cgoing to matter,\u201d but when asked if he\u2019s seen a big enough shift in those areas to tackle the current crisis, he had a simple answer: \u201cNot yet.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26\u201327, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ford CEO Jim Farley delivered an urgent message at the company\u2019s Ford Pro Accelerate event on Tuesday, revealing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[10060,28,55710,153],"class_list":{"0":"post-193052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-autos","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ford-motor","11":"tag-gen-z"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}